Lonely Hearts Club
by Sonea Storm Shadow
Summary: The War has finally ended and Kakashi has found himself not being needed anymore until he meets up with an old ANBU friend: KuroNeko who has a dark secret and past but now they get to see under both of their masks... Will love bloom or will they drive a wedge between their 'understanding? Kakashi X OC


Lonely Hearts Club

The war had ended five months ago and the Allied Shinobi Force had come out on top with Naruto, Sasuke, Killer B, Guy and Kakashi looked upon as heroes but Sasuke had disappeared again while everyone returned home and things went back to normal.

KuroNeko (Black Cat) had just returned from her ANBU mission and was moving back to ANBU Headquarters. Dressed in the standard ANBU uniform and a black cat mask with white whiskers, it gave nothing of her personality away except the black scarf tied to her belt that looked like a tail, a memento of her mentor who never came back from his last mission. Her long hair swayed as she walked down the dimly lit corridors as black as the night and tinted red in the light to remind her of her bloody lifestyle, as if her eyes weren't a constant reminder of that.

Her real name is Kanon Hikari but there was a dark secret around her, which only the Hokage knows. Her mother was a whore who slept with an ANBU one night and had her as his child… Unfortunately that ANBU happened to be and Uchiha. She barely survived after her mother abandoned her and she left to Konoha to find her father when she was five. He was not the knight in shining armour she had always dreamed of, he already had a family and was arrogant and down right dirty that day she saw him in a bar and followed him home. That night, at the age of five she activated her full sharingan, she walked around in the dead of night around the village, biting her bloody lip and wishing she never looked so much like him. People told her she had her mother's soft facial features but the black eyes and black hair that had a tint of red when it shone in light was all her fathers and she hated herself. A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder and she stopped to come face to face with the Sandaime Hokage who asked her why she was out at that time of night and not in the safety of the Uchiha compound. She broke right there and told him the whole story and said she never wants to be associated with him or his clan. The Hokage seemed sad at her story and explained the power of the sharingan and asked if she would want to work for him and be trained as a ninja to be ANBU, not a person but only a mask and a killer. She took that opportunity, graduated the academy within a year and began her training for ANBU and became an official ANBU at seven. She was placed on her senpai's team until he died on a mission three years later, in her arms, she became a mindless killer after that and only did solo missions.

KuroNeko handed in her report silently and headed for the hang out area, as it was the only way to get to the apartment area for ANBU's. There was a lot of chatting nearly everyone had their masks off because it was the only place you can openly admit to being ANBU. She noticed the regular faces and then one caught her eye she hadn't seen since he retired from ANBU, Ookami-sama Hatake Kakashi. Her body began moving towards him automatically but then she stopped and clenched her fists, she was suppose to be a mindless killer and not fall in love so she turned and headed for the dorms. As soon as she was in her room, she searched every nook and cranny as everyone was curious of her identity and placed bugs every time she left. Happy that her room was bug free, she took off her mask and weapons before heading to the shower. She waited for the water to warm up when there was a knock at her door. She sighed at least she hadn't taken off her sleeveless shirt or skin-tight pants yet. She returned to her room and placed her mask on before opening the door.

"Yo. Long time no see Kuro." Kakashi said with his eye smile.

"What do you want Ookami-sama?" She asked blankly.

"I heard you were one of the ANBU left behind to protect the village." He said casually as he leaned his shoulder against the doorframe, hands in pockets.

"And I heard you were one of the front liners for the war… What are you doing around Headquarters again, you retired six years ago." She asked harshly.

"Ouch… So harsh Neko-chan." He said with a fake hurt tone. She hissed in frustration. "I've actually decided to come back to ANBU. Now that Naruto's going to be Hokage soon and Sakura has become a medic that surpasses Tsunade-sama, Sasuke disappeared again and Sai has also returned to ANBU… Oh and Tenzo decided to get a genin team of his own, I'm not needed anymore." He said with a shrug. Hikari became angry at his words.

"You will always be needed to them as a friend, you still haven't learned from your past mistakes Hatake and you're trying to run away again… I heard what happened in the war and to learn that someone who changed you for the better is the greatest evil this world has ever seen is hard but you cannot run away again." She said angrily and his face changed to a harsh manner.

"What, like you did with your father?" He shot back harshly. She stepped back like she had just been slapped. He was the only one she told the basic details about her past but she never thought her would stoop so low as to use it against her.

"That's… a low blow Hatake." She said harshly before slamming the door in his face and returning to the shower to let tears she didn't know were coming out mingle with the water.

Kakashi stared at the slammed door and cursed himself. He really hated how bad his people skills were sometimes as he strolled down the corridors. She had trusted him with some very personal information when he came to ANBU broken after Minato's death, the only one to see how badly everything was taking a toll on him. He came back one night after a mission at age fourteen and was in a very bad state being physically and mentally and he fell against her door, not being able to make it to his room. The door was replaced with a ten-year-old girl wearing a black cat mask holding him up. She bent down silently and slung his shoulder carefully over her shoulder and helped him up and to his room where she sat him on a stool and shuffled through his cupboards and found the plastic sheet to drape over his bed and the first aid kit. She helped him up again to lay down on his bed and began cutting away his clothes and taking the armour and weapons off, she didn't even move to remove his Wolf mask but pulled his second mask out from under his ceramic one. He twitched as he felt the stinging of antiseptic on his wounds but did and said nothing else. All of a sudden he began talking about everything that had been bothering him and hurting him as his tears fell out from behind his mask to mix with his blood on the plastic sheet. She hummed in acknowledgment every now and again to let him know she was listening and he felt so much better afterwards, physically and emotionally.

She helped him up off of the sheet and wiped him down with a cloth and water in a bucket, avoiding his dressed wounds. She left him standing in his boxers as she picked up the plastic sheet carefully and rinsed it off in the shower and hung it up. She moved back to him and helped him to dress, still leaving his wolf mask on until he pulled his fabric one underneath and he removed his mask. She pulled his blankets back as he lay down. She tried to move away but his wrist quickly caught hers and she understood as she slipped in next to him and talked soothingly about her life and was running her hands through his damp hair where he fell asleep. They spoke civilly to each other when they passed each other but nothing else and she would check up on him every time he came back from a mission to fix his wounds until he retired to take a genin team.

He cursed himself again as he was lost in thought and found himself at the memorial stone and decided to talk since he was there anyway, remembering Obito as the thirteen year old boy who died the day he received his sharingan and not the monster he saw on the battlefield.

KuroNeko cursed her luck as she hid in the dead of night in a tree, hiding from the guards patrolling. She was ordered to kill everyone in the big and lavish house she was currently making her way up the long drive way which, lucky for her, were lined with countless trees and bushes. The hard par was going to be getting close to the house as it had sensory lights that turned on with every movement. Quickly making her way up the drive way and hiding in the tree, she studied the house, she would have to take out the lights before she could proceed. She climbed the tree she was in and pushed as much chakra into her legs as she jumped high and at a large angle so at the last minute she would land on the building. She crouched as she landed and looked over to make sure she didn't set off any lights and she didn't. Being an Uchiha had its perks with the eyes and extremely flexible body as she lay down, holding on with chakra along a wall to take out the one light that was watching her way in. She yanked it off of the wall and cut its wires and replaced it carefully before jumping down and landing on her feet perfectly. She wasted no time getting to the door and picking the main lock. When that was complete, she sent wind chakra through the gap between the door and its frame to cut any more locks. She got in and closed the door silently and that's when everything went down hill. They had been waiting for her and they weren't just civilians, no they were well-trained samurai. She quickly moved and brought out her two katanas that made an x across her back as she fought and defended herself while trying to complete the mission. It was four against one in a space of five by five meters with no room for error as she activated her sharingan and managed to move one of them off to a side room and kill him before a katana was stabbed through her on her right, no time for pain, she pulled it out and threw it like a javline and killed another one who was advancing on her. She ran for her one katana she dropped and rolled as she picked it up and pushed her lightning chakra into the blade as she recovered to kill the third man and the last one went down easily.

She sheathed her katanas and winced at the pain and looked and felt around her body. She felt around a few kunai sticking out of her back and pulled the one out of her thigh to use the little medical ninjutsu she knew to fix the muscle so she could escape after completing her mission. She walked silently down the corridors and checked each room when she came face to face with a little girl with blonde hair and blue eyes rubbing them tiredly and questioning for her mom. KuroNeko moved quickly as she pinched the nerve on the side of her neck and caught her to lay her down. She looked down at the sleeping girl before placing her bloodied and gloved hand on her chest and sending through a pulse of electricity, which stopped her heart painlessly. She stepped over the body as she came to the last door, which opened to a lavish room lit with candles. She used a wind jutsu to make them blow out and moved to the bed where and old lady lay, connected to machines keeping her alive. She moved silently to the plugs and pulled them out and the lady died peacefully. Checking her neck and finding no pulse she snuck out of the front door again and locked it again before heading back to Konoha. She handed her report in verbally and headed for her room to clean up, sleep and heal as she held the through wound by the one katana.

Kakashi sat in the hang out area sipping a cup of coffee by a fire. He was still replaying the scene he had with KuroNeko and it was eating away at him guiltily. He heard the main doors bang open behind him and he twisted in his seat to see someone moving to the dorms and looking very hunched over, it was when the smell of blood hit his nose he got up and rushed over to the figure and his visible eye widened when he noticed it was KuroNeko. He had his hand over the gloved one holding her side and pulled out the kunai from her back. He moved his hand away from the gloved one and noticed how badly she was bleeding by the amount of blood on his hand. In a panic he picked her up bridal style and rushed to her room, shifting her small and lithe frame into one arm as he reached out to open her door. He kicked it closed and sat her down on a stool and he moved to switch on the light where he saw the real damage. She had deep cuts everywhere and even one on her neck where he could see the still intact jugular beating but the worst one was the through and through wound on her stomach on the left. He rushed around quickly to find the plastic sheet and first aid kit while pulling off his bloodied gloves, flak jacket and Jonin vest and weapon pouches, leaving on his sleeveless shirt with the mask attached. He threw the sheet over her bed and moved back to the still and slouching form, pulling off her gloves with reluctance from her holding her wound and unclipped the armour and weapons off before picking her up again and placing her down on her bed. He worked to cut the clothes away but luckily left her bra and underwear on as well as her mask as he worked to clean, stitch and bandage the wounds.

She didn't make a move or even twitch as he cleaned the wounds and sew them together and so he began to talk about his students and the war again to fill the silence. Once they were bandaged he picked her up again and put her on the stool to clean the plastic sheet and placed her carefully into bed where she was already asleep with the mask on. He looked around her room and disposed of the bugs before returning next to her and removing her mask and her beauty stunned him even with her paleness from loosing so much blood. He placed her mask down on her bedside table and placed a masked kiss on her forehead and leaving.

The next morning he stopped by her room and listened against her door. Her breathing sounded rough with a very wet cough. He knocked, said who it was and walked in to find her back towards the door and moved to kneel next to her bed.

"What do you want?" She asked with ragged breathing.

"I came to check up on you after last night, you came back in pretty bad shape, I should have taken you to the hospital so I fixed you up… There's no point in hiding your pretty face away from me anymore, come on, turn over and look at me so I can make sure you are really okay." Kakashi asked softly.

"Fine you want to know why I hide my face? It's because of this." She said with annoyance as she turned over and opened her eyes to reveal the sharingan. Kakashi fell off his knees with shock.

"You're an Uchiha? But, how? Itachi killed them all except Sasuke." Kakashi questioned before moving back and looking at her eyes close up.

"You know my story, my father was an Uchiha but it broke my heart to see him as he was such an ass. The Sandaime found me that same night and it was the same night I had activated my sharingan at age five. My name is Kanon Hikari but I would prefer it if you kept calling me KuroNeko." She said seriously before coughing up some blood. She looked at it undazed and turned over to get some more sleep. Kakashi saw her soiled bandages as the blanket shifted and became worried. She had already fallen asleep again with strained breathing and he made his decision. He stood up and went to her cupboard to pull out her ANBU coat, he pulled the blanket off of her and placed the coat on her and closed it up. He pulled the hood over her head and picked her up, hiding her face in the crook of her shoulder as he ran to the hospital.

Doctors took her away immediately, leaving him to explain the details to the receptionist who had an unemotional look to her face.

"Her name is Kanon Hikari correct?" The receptionist asked him and he nodded. "I will need you to bring the Gondaime here to treat her sir." She told him and he took off towards the Hokage Tower where he burst into Tsunade's office and found both her and Naruto chatting calmly as they did paperwork.

"Kaka-sensei, what's wrong?" Naruto asked him with worry.

"Tsunade-sama, it's Kanon Hikari… She needs your attention right away… Hospital." He said a little out of breath. She got up with Naruto following close behind them as they entered the hospital and Tsunade moved off to her room immediately. Naruto had never seen his sensei so worked up over an injured person but it sounded bad and it was definitely one of his precious people. Kakashi was pacing nervously.

Kakashi felt worry bloom in his chest. The feeling made him feel hot and bothered so he started to pace back and forth in front of Naruto.

"Kaka-sensei, please sit down, you're making me nervous." Naruto asked but he didn't stop so Naruto stood up and grabbed him firmly by the shoulders and looking dead straight into his one wide and visible eye. "Sensei, explain what you are feeling right now, I can help you. It's the Hokage's duty after all." Naruto said calmingly.

"I fell so worried and nauseas… Sure, we've seen and helped each other but she came in last night very injured and I cleaned her up. But then…" He seemed to realise what he was saying and stopped.

"Sensei, I know about her… Come on, let it out." Naruto chided with a hidden smirk. He could see that he had gone visibly pale and his pupil had dilated a little.

"She told me the truth about herself and I was stunned, I feel so hot and bothered right now, I need to pace." He said calmly and Naruto let him and sat down with a knowing smirk.

"You like her don't you sensei?" Naruto said cheekily and the great Hatake Kakashi stumbled before righting himself and his visible eye widened.

Kakashi couldn't believe what he had heard out of his student's mouth. But then the feeling in his chest tightened and what he had just said may be the truth. He put both of his hands up against the wall and leaned on them to stabilize himself from falling over as he thought his emotions through. Every time he had been wounded, he had gone straight to her room where she would pick him up and take him to his own room, clean him up and stay with him until he fell asleep and never showed her face and always respected his privacy with his mask… He was falling for her… Hard.

"I think you're right Naruto." He said, swallowing hard and the feeling in his chest settling down comfortably but his heart was beating hard with what he could only describe as love and it made him smile under his mask. Tsunade came out of her room and sighed before coming face to face with Kakashi. She looked at Naruto questioningly and he just shrugged and smirked and Tsunade turned back to Kakashi who was a bit close now.

"She's fine, you did a very good job at patching her up but it seemed like that through and through wound caught her lung which explained the coughing up of blood and the harsh breathing. She'll be fine but she's on rest for a week just to heal properly, you can go in now but she is sleeping at the moment." Tsunade said walking out with Naruto back to the office and chatting. Kakashi stared after them for a while before opening her door and sliding it closed behind him and moving to sit on the little stool next to her bed.

The sun was shining cross her hair, giving it a red tint to it as Kakashi reached over and brushed a strand away from her sleeping form only to meet her sharingan eyes staring back at him… She had already caught him so he finished his action and moved his hand to hold hers and her eyes widened as they faded to black again. He carefully slotted his fingers between hers and waited. Her fingers twitched hesitantly before they enclosed tightly around his hand and he closed his fingers around hers and she was smiling which took his breath away. Her other hand moved his hitai-ate up and her smile brightened when he opened his sharingan eye. He caught her hand before it fell away and held it against his mask and made her fingers curl around the edge and pull it down to reveal his face. Her eyes widened and now she was fully smiling and tracing his whole face gently.

"Why… Why did you let me take off your mask?" She asked as her eyes followed her tracing fingers.

"So that we're even from last night and… So I could do this." He said as he leaned down and kissed her and she kissed back with a smile, letting her emotions flow to him. He pulled back and looked down lovingly at her. "And I don't think I'll be going back to ANBU again." He said calmly as he held her hand against his cheek and he leaned into it with his eyes closed.

"Then I'll follow you Kakashi, I'll finally leave ANBU and live… With you." She said with tears which he wiped away quickly with another quick kiss. He also laughed a little. "What's so funny?" She asked with a pout.

"I think that's the fist time you said my name… Life's going to get interesting with my new little troublemaker around." He said, kissing her wrist, which made her blush and laugh with him.


End file.
